|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Sam
Udall Arizona Rancher |
Sam's great grandparents came to Round Valley from Utah in the late 1800s where they established a homestead. Sam lives on and works the family's 400+ deeded acres outside Eager where he breeds and manages horses and a small herd of registered Herefords. Sam graduated from Arizona State University and taught school for 20 years so he could pursue his rodeo passion during the summer.
Recently, Sam began working with Wink Crigler of the X Diamond Ranch where he manages her cattle and horses and shares with horse-riding guests his love and knowledge of the land and ranching.
Q: AS A RANCHER WITH LAND JUST OUTSIDE THE RECOVERY ZONE, WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS OF THE MEXICAN WOLF REINTRODUCTION PROGRAM?
I feel that the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction in this area is an exercise in futility. I don't believe the wolves will ever be self-sustaining. I don't believe that they will ever be endeared to the public. I think they lean too much toward being a feral animal rather than a true wild animal. I don't believe in their supplemental feeding. I believe that many of their deaths can be attributed to malnutrition. Right now, it looks to me like it's making us all look bad -- land owners, federal fish and wildlife, everyone. In the 1940s we aggressively trapped wolves. Now they're bringing them back into a hostile environment and the wolves have no natural instinct to hunt very much anymore. You can't take these animals out of the game preserve where they're being fed roadkill and expect them to make it out here in the wild.
Q: SO YOU THINK THEIR LACK OF NATURAL INSTINCTS MAY DOOM THE PROGRAM?
I believe there exists a legitimate question about the integrity of the genes of the Mexican gray wolf. Whether they could genetically prove them to be pure or not is very, very questionable. I was told that there may be in 11 Western states as many as 300,000 of these 87% purebred, hybrid wolves running wild. Recently there was a discussion about a lady over here in Pinetop-Lakeside that had 13 hybrid wolves that got away and she didn't care. She didn't want them. She could no longer afford to feed them and take care of them. Well, those things are out there and they're potential killers of anything or anybody, because they're not afraid of a man. There's a lot of discussion about cross-breeding with dogs - They definitely come through ranches, they definitely interact with ranch dogs, and one wolf by himself is probably going to interact with one ranch dog on a friendly basis more so than a fight basis. I'd bet my bad ass and overcoat on it. Regarding the Arizona reintroduction program, it looks to me like the wolf in a natural kind of a situation is at least seasonally migratory which puts him at risk despite his movement. In the wintertime when he's moved to a lower elevation he is more into an agricultural and a domestic animal situation. In the summertime when he moves higher, it puts him at risk because he's more into the recreation and the people user end of the stick.
Q: HAVE YOU SEEN ANY WOLVES AROUND THE EAGER/SPRINGERVILLE AREA?
I have not personally seen any wolves around here. I've heard stories about them and there are pictures of them. When they turned the original pack loose, south of Alpine, there was a wolf that was seen there by a load of schoolchildren on a bus. There was a wolf that was killed west of here on Highway 260 and the first human cry heard was that he was killed by the ranchers and the hunters, when in fact he was killed in a collision with a car. I would really like to know what the physical condition of these dead wolves was -- how healthy they were, how well fed they were, what kind of shape they were in. I think that they're scavengers, I think we're going to see lots of them along the side of the roads, eating the dead animals, the rabbits and the other animals that are killed by collisions with cars, on the side of the road. It's not even remotely reasonable or fair to say every time they find a dead wolf, "Them damn ranchers." That's not right.
Q: SO YOU THINK THE RANCHERS ARE GETTING A BUM RAP?
I feel that the ranchers definitely have taken the bum rap, so to speak, in this controversy with the wolf. I don't like the insinuation that we are hunting them and out to kill them. I don't even pack a gun anymore. I used to, simply for that very reason. I wouldn't dare take a shot at a coyote and take the chance of it being a wolf pup in poor condition.
Q: WHAT ABOUT ECONOMIC COMPENSATION FOR LOSSES INCURRED AS A RESULT OF REINTRODUCTION?
Let me say that I am a supporter of the Endangered Species Act. But right now I believe that the law in regards to the Act is broken and does not work. I don't believe that they are taking the economic impact into full account nor giving the credit that should be given to those affected when they try to reintroduce a species, whether it be here or somewhere else. When you talk about ranchers being compensated for losses, I think you've got to take into consideration, in the case of a cow and/or a horse, if it's a female, how many more calves that cow will have, and the consideration of what the true value of the animal is, whether this is an animal with an outstanding pedigree that's very valuable for breeding purposes or whether it's an animal that is being bred and raised simply for beef. Makes a big difference.
Q: BOTTOM LINE?
I truly am very pessimistic about the overall success of the wolf reintroduction program and I do not believe that success will be measured in dollars spent and animals released. I do not think that's the answer to this problem at all. I think that it involves location and the true wildness and ability of that animal to forage and hunt rather than dollars spent and numbers turned loose and released.
